Law and Media Round Up – 11 February 2013

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In a judgment handed down on 4 February 2013 ([2013] EWHC 145 (QB)) Mr Justice Eady awarded the former Conservative Party treasurer, Peter Cruddas, defamation damages of £45,000 in respect of 9 blogs and 12 tweets by published by lobbyist Mark Adams. Inforrm reported here.

Removing abusive messages may help social media users avoid prosecution, according to the director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC. “..[T]here is a lot of stuff out there that’s highly offensive that’s put out on a spontaneous basis. It’s quite often taken down pretty quickly and the view is that that sort of remark, those sorts of remarks don’t necessarily need to be prosecuted,” he said. He was speaking on Sky News’ Dermot Murnaghan programme [transcript / report].

“The amendments in my name and the names of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay, the noble Baroness, Lady Boothroyd, and the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Scotland, do exactly what they say on the tin. They offer a solution that is quick, just and affordable and, most of all, they offer a remedy that is entirely independent of both government and the media”.

However, the Libel Reform campaign has raised concerns that the Government will now drop the bill: writing in the Guardian, Tracey Brown argues that “this political stunt is now risking the future of the defamation bill“. In the Times, Matthew Parris complains that Lord Puttnam “has led a sneak attack to sabotage the Defamation Bill and get statutory regulation by the back door“.

Alan Tierney, a former Surrey police officer, is to be charged with misconduct in public office over alleged payments from the Sun newspaper, the Independent reported. The CPS statement can be found here.

The Duchess of York and 16 others settled their phone hacking claims at the High Court last week (see “In the Courts”). Press Gazette reports that “in the three months to 31 December the [News Corp] incurred $56m (£35.7m) in costs relating to phone-hacking – bringing the total figure to more than $340m (£216.9m)“.

Vicky Pryce’s dealings with the Sunday Times are being scrutinised in her ongoing trial at Southwark Crown Court. The ex-wife of former MP Chris Huhne denies perverting the course of justice and is pleading a special defence of marital coercion. Press Gazette and the BBC reports on the evidence concerning the Sunday Times here and here.

On the same day Mr Justice Eady gave judgment in the case of Auladin v Shaikh ([2013] EWHC 157 (QB)). The judge found that the words were not defamatory of the claimant and therefore granted summary judgment to the claimant.

On 6 February 2013 Mr Justice Eady handed down in Duke v The University of Salford[2013] EWHC 196 (QB) (6 February 2013). The judge struck out a claim brought by the University of Salford against a lecturer concerning articles on his website. He was not convinced that there was “a ‘real and substantial tort’, so far as the University is concerned, or that the proceedings should be allowed to continue purely for the purpose of the University’s obtaining an injunction to stifle criticism [of two members of the University]”. He did not, however, accept the argument that the claim should be struck out because the institution is prevented from bringing a defamation action:

“In this jurisdiction, if it were decided that as a matter of public policy universities should not have the right to sue for libel, that could only be implemented by the legislature or, perhaps, by the Supreme Court“. PA Media Lawyer reported here (subscription required).

As noted above, statements were read out at the High Court on Friday 8 February for 17 individuals who had settled claims with News International in the phone hacking civil litigation. Claimants included the Duchess of York, James Blunt, Christopher Eccleston,Uri Geller and Hugh Grant, as reported by Press Gazette.

On the same day Mrs Justice Gloster made a Norwich Pharmacal order in the case of Halpern v Google. The claimant is an orthodox Jewish rabbi who was seeking the order to “disclose the registered name, address or IP address in their possession in respect of the blogger Ifyoutickleus“, who had posted alleged defamatory blogs, accusing the claimant of having extra marital affairs. There were news stories about this case in the “Daily Telegraph” and the “Jewish Chronicle“.

Hawaii: The so-called ‘Steven Tyler Act’, named after the lead singer of Aerosmith, will be considered in the state Senate Judiciary Committee. It “would allow people to collect damages from someone who photographs them in an offensive way during their personal or family time“, reports AP (at Politico).

Scotland: Herbert Kerrigan QC is suing a fellow lawyer over claims he defamed him in front of a class of law students, according to the Daily Record and Sunday Mail.

On 11 to 12 February 2013 the Supreme Court will hear the case of Public Relations Consultants Association Limited v The Newspaper Licensing Agency Limited and others. The Supreme Court case summary is here.

The trial in Thompson v James will be heard on 13 February 2013. It is now by judge alone and is listed for 5 to 6 days. This is a claim brought by the author of the Carmarthenshire Planning Problems blog, Jacqui Thompson, against the chief executive of Carmarthenshire Council in relation to a letter dated 28 July 2011. Mr James has brought a counterclaim for libel, funded by the local authority. There is a post about the case on the claimant’s blog, here.

On 13 February 2013 there is a damages only trial by judge alone in the case of Al-Amoudi v Kifle. A previous action between the same parties was dealt with by HHJ Parkes QC in July 2011 ([2011] EWHC 2037 (QB)). On that occasion damages were assessed in the sum of £175,000. However, the defendant was resident in the United States and made no appearance in that action.

On Friday 15 February 2013 there is an application in the case of XLN Telecom Ltd v Geezer Telecom.

Next week in Parliament

Monday 10 February 2013, 7.35pm, Joint Committee on Parliamentary Privilege, Witness(es): Mary Harris, Clerk of the New Zealand Parliament; Bernard Wright, Clerk of the Australian House of Representatives and Dr Rosemary Laing, Clerk of the Australian Senate.House of Commons.

Tuesday 12 February 2013, 5pm, Joint Committee on Parliamentary Privilege. Subject: Parliamentary Privilege. Witness(es): David Beamish, Clerk of the Parliaments and Sir Robert Rogers, Clerk of the House of Commons, Location: 4A.

This week’s Round Up was compiled for Inforrm by Judith Townend, a freelance journalist and PhD researcher examining legal restraints on the media, who runs the Meeja Law blog. She is @jtownend on Twitter. Please send suggestions, tips and event listings for inclusion in future round ups to jt.townend@gmail.com.